The Jungle Movie
by If Wishes Were Blue Skies
Summary: Rated G for now. But it will only go as high as PG though. Anyway, this is just my version of what the Jungle Movie might be. *finally chapter 4!!!!*. Wish me luck and please r/r!
1. Default Chapter

**Disclaimer:** Hey Arnold is not mine. But if only…if only it was! The Jungle Movie is also not mine, but this is just what I think will happen.

**A/N:** I've had this story in mind for a while now. I've just never gotten to it until now. So anyway, I hope you enjoy it. And let's all send in letters telling the idiots at Nick just how much we want the real Jungle Movie made!! Just don't insult them, Craig said that won't make a difference.

**Chapter 1 – _The Journal Goes Missing_**

"Grandma! Grandpa! You have to this! I found a map!"

Arnold shouted these words as he ran into the boardinghouse with his father's journal clutched tightly in his hand. 

Lights went on at the sound of Arnold yelling, and his grandparents stood outside their bedroom door looking around for what he was yelling about.

"What the Helen of Troy are you yellin' about, Arnold?" his grandfather asked him.

Panting, Arnold held up the journal, which was open to the two-page map. Phil took it and looked at it carefully. 

"It has to be a map of where mom and dad were going on their last trip to the jungle," Arnold informed them, still trying to catch his breath. 

"I think you're right, short man," he answered to Arnold's guess. He looked up from the book and saw Arnold's hoping face. He looked down at his wife with a sad look.

"I'm sorry, Arnold. There's no way we could get down there. We just don't have the money," he said in a sad voice. He saw Arnold's smile face away.

"That's okay, grandpa. I'll find a way down there! You just wait and see!" Arnold went up to his room and placed the journal by his parents' photo. Arnold smiled at the picture and as if talking to them, he said, "I'll find out what happened to you guys. I promise." 

He shut off the light with his remote and fell back onto his pillow. He fell asleep just a couple minutes after his head hit the pillow.

(A/N: dream sequence!! Yayness! ^_^)

Arnold looked around at his surroundings. It was dark. Very dark. He couldn't see anything except a door with light behind it. He cautiously walked toward the glowing door, trying not to trip on anything along the way. 

_The closer to the door he got, the faster his heart seemed to thud in his chest. He enclosed his hand around the handle and slowly opened the door. Bright light stung his eyes and he held his hand in front of them and walked into the room. _

_It took a while – too long for Arnold's liking – but he finally got used to the light and was able to remove his hand and look around the room. _

_He looked at the back of the room and saw something he had been waiting for since October fifth when he was only one-year-old. _

_There stood his mom and his dad, sitting together with their arms open wide. Arnold ran to them and finally was swept into the loving arms of his parents. It was the happiest he'd felt in his short life. _

_"Oh, Arnold! We're so glad you found us! We missed you so much!" his dad said to him. _

_"And we wouldn't have even known that you were going to come here if it wasn't for that little girl with the blonde hair," his mom said._

_Arnold's eyes opened. _

_"What little girl, mom?"he asked her, puzzled. Then, he looked into the room where he had been before and saw the silhouette of some one he knew, but couldn't figure out who. All he saw was a flash of yellow and pink as she walked out of the door. _

_ _

Arnold woke to the, "Hey Arnold! Hey Arnold! Hey Arnold!" of his alarm clock. He pulled the wire out of the potato and sat up in his bed. He thought about his dream and tried to think of who that little girl was who led his parents to him. But as he thought, the more his dream drifted from his memory. (A/N: Don't you hate that? Happens to me all the time.) 

_"Oh well. I'll think of it eventually," _he thought to himself.

***

Arnold got onto the bus just as it was leaving. He climbed up the steps and sat next to Gerald. His friend looked at him with concern.

"You okay now, Arnold? I mean, with yesterday…" Gerald asked him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Me, Grandma, and Grandpa just spent some time together, and he told me stories about my parents. Nothing different, really," he replied with a casual tone.

Gerald looked at him once more before turning forward in his seat. A few minutes later, people were getting off of the bus and going into their school, P.S.118. Arnold was last of the bus and walked up the steps with Gerald, who had waited outside the bus door for him.

Helga walked behind Arnold and Gerald and thought to herself:

_"Oh, Arnold. I only hope that yesterday wasn't too hard for you. If only I had the guts to reassure you that someday your parents will return with opens arms to you. But alas, I can't." _

Helga smiled a sad smile at Arnold, who would have no clue of this. Helga finally snapped out of it when the warning bell rang, signaling the last chance to get into class on time. Helga dashed to her locker and grabbed her books as fast as she could. She skidded into her homeroom just as the final bell rang. As their teacher, Mr. Simmons, walked in, Helga walked back to her desk behind Arnold. She mentally thanked the fruitcake – as she liked to call him – Mr. Simmons for placing her there in the seat arrangement. 

Math was their first subject, so Helga went through her stack of books for her math book. She cursed herself when she saw she had forgotten it in her locker because of her rush to get to class on time. 

"Why did I care? I've been late before," she thought angrily.

Mr. Simmons excused her out of the classroom to get her book from her locker. Helga stomped down the hall to her locker and put in the combination on her lock. It opened with a lift of the silver handle and she grabbed the last remaining book in the locker. 

Helga was half way back to the class when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. She took a few steps backwards and found herself in front of none other than Arnold's locker. At first she couldn't figure out what had made her stop, but as she looked up she spotted something brown on top of the locker. Helga brought it down in her hands and saw that it was a book. And an old book at that. She observed it and read the word, 'Journal' in gold lettering on the cover. Thinking it might have been Arnold's journal, she opened it to the middle of the book and scanned the sentences.

As she read, she saw that it wasn't Arnold's, but what had to be his dad's. 

"Oh my. I could learn so much about Arnold's past if I read this. But…he would surely miss it. Should I return it? Yes. That's exactly what I'll do. I'll just tell him that it was on the floor and just happened to come across it," she told herself. She began walking to the door, which was drawing closer with every step she took. She stopped just before the door.

"Or maybe, I can read it tonight and give it back to him tomorrow. I'll say I found it on the bus. Yeah that's it! Helga, you're a genius," she said in a boasting voice. She lifted up her hand to reach the doorknob, but she had used the same hand that was carrying both the journal and math book and they fell onto her foot. She flinched and tried her hardest not to yell out, and jumped up and down, clutching onto her bad foot.

***

Arnold stared desperately at the clock, as if begging it to turn 12:00. At long last, bell rang and everyone filed out of the classroom and to his or her lockers. Arnold ran to his locker and looked in horror at the empty space on top of his locker. Earlier in class, Arnold realized he had left his father's priceless journal there, but now it was gone. What could've happened to it? Who could've taken it? And why? 

"Oh no. What am I going to do? I'd never be able to forgive myself if something happened to that journal," he thought desperately.

Arnold walked all around the hall and in the boy's bathroom, hoping to find the journal somewhere. 

Ten minutes had passed before Gerald came in looking for Arnold and found him scouting over by Mr. Packenham's class. 

"What are you doing, Arnold?" he asked him with a puzzled voice.

Arnold looked up at him, startled. Gerald saw the worried look on Arnold's face and felt concerned.

"You okay, Arnold? What's the matter, buddy?"

"I lost my father's journal, Gerald! You've gotta help me find it!" Arnold shouted as he ran over to check by the water fountain. 

Gerald stood there, trying to figure out what in the world Arnold could be taking about.

"What? Arnold, I must've missed something back there. Did you say your father's journal?" he inquired in both a shocked and confused voice.

"Yes. Yesterday, I found it in the attic and Grandpa read it to me. I brought it to school to show you, and I left it on top of my locker and now it's not there! I don't what I'm gonna do, Gerald! If I lost it-," Arnold stopped himself and suddenly felt a strong surge of panic wash over him. 

What if he didn't find it? What if it was lost forever? What would he do to himself if it was gone? He didn't even want to think about it. All he wanted to do right now was look for it.

Gerald looked worriedly at his life-long friend. 

"If I lost it, what? Arnold wouldn't…no! Arnold would never go to such drastic measure just because of a book. Don't think that, Gerald!"

Gerald shook his head.

"I'll help you, Arnold. And don't worry, we'll find it," he told him reassuringly.

Arnold smiled at him. "Thanks, Gerald."

"Hey. What are friends for?" 

They laughed and began scanning the whole floor for Arnold's prized journal. They searched for twenty minutes and would've continued, but as the clock hit 12:30, the lunch bell rang. Arnold looked up and heard the sound of people coming in through the doors from downstairs and the babble of their talking and laughter.

"We didn't find it, Gerald. It's nowhere to be found. What am I going to do?" Arnold stood up from where he was sitting and kept his head facing the floor.

Gerald frowned and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, man. I'll bet anything that you'll find it tomorrow. But right now, let's go eat. Take your mind off things," he told him and awaited his answer.

For a few seconds, Arnold didn't say anything, but soon came out of his daze.

"Okay. I guess it might help."

The two walked down to the cafeteria and in through the double doors. Arnold still had his head tilted down as he sat down with his friends with his lunch.

But Helga, who had been watching him from across the cafeteria, knew exactly why Arnold was acting this way.

**A/N:** So what do you think so far??? I hope this will be my best story yet. Won't go too fast, and pretty long. Please review so I know your opinion! You can flame.


	2. The Essay Contest

**A/N: **weeee! I feel so proud! Thankies sooooooooo much for the great reviews! I'm glad I'm not rushing things…I seem to like to do that. Anyway, sorry to those people who I took their idea…and again thanks for the reviews! I almost wasn't gonna finish it, but I see how much you guys want to read the rest. Sorry for the long wait…school's been a pain in the ass lately. Anyway, here's chappie 2!

**Chapter 2 – _The Essay Contest_**

The lunch bell rang and everyone filed out of the lunchroom. Helga followed behind Arnold and worriedly deeply about if she should give him back the journal right then and there.

"Some one had to have taken it, Gerald! There's nowhere else it could be. But the question I want answered is why," Arnold exclaimed, making Helga even more worried. 

"Oh great! Now if I give it back to him myself, he's either gonna hate me or at least be suspicious. I'll just gonna have to drop it in his room while he's sleeping or something."

They entered the class one-by-one and sat down in their desks. Mr. Simmons was already at his desk, throwing away the Styrofoam tray that had held his lunch. 

Phoebe leaned over in her seat, closer to Helga. 

"Helga, have you noticed Arnold isn't acting quite himself? He seemed fine this morning and neither him nor Gerald was at recess. Have you any idea what may be bothering him, Helga?" Phoebe inquired her best friend.

Helga threw Phoebe a nervous glance, but was as quick as it had come and was replaced with her usual scowl. "N, no, Phoebes. How would I know anything about football-head?"

Phoebe suddenly got suspicious, but decided against asking any further questions. For the best of Helga and her. Phoebe turned her head back to the front of the class where Mr. Simmons was lecturing about the life cycle of sea sponges.

"_I wish I knew what's wrong with Arnold. I'll bet Helga knows…either that or she has something to do with it. Don't think that, Phoebe! Of course Helga wouldn't do something to Arnold to make him this upset. I mean, she does, after all, love him…" _Phoebe told herself mentally. She shook her head and started taking her notes on the sea sponge's mating season.

The rest of the day seemed to go by slowly. Geography, with studying the early settlers, was boring enough to make watching golf on TV seem exciting. (**A/N:** no offense to anyone who likes golf out there!) Science with the sea sponges, and then finally it was English class: last subject before freedom.

"Oh look! 2:50! You know what that means, class! It's English time! Take out your textbooks and turn to page 250…we're going to read about adverbs! Doesn't that sound exciting?" Mr. Simmons said joyfully to his silent-responding class. 

Everyone noisily took out his or her English books and turned to page 250. Arnold did this along with everyone else, but was off in his own world. As Mr. Simmons babbled about the use of adverbs, Arnold thought to himself about the journal.

_"Oh, I just don't know what do. If I find it, I'll forget this whole this thing ever happened and go on with my life. But if I don't…oh I don't even wanna think about it! I wish I could just find it and be able to concentrate on other things like school, friends, LIFE!"_

Arnold throughout the entire period. His teacher's talking was just babble to him. 

_"What are you doing, Arnold? This isn't you! You always listen and pay attention during class! If I keep this up, I'm gonna fail English! And over what? A stupid little book…wait, it's not stupid! What am I saying?! Oh great! Now I'm arguing with myself! What next?"_

Arnold continued not the listen until the bell ringing snapped him out of it. He was about to get up and go to his locker when Mr. Simmons stopped them all.

"Class. Go back to your seats. I have a special announcement to make," said Mr. Simmons calmly to his class. Everyone grumbled and sat back down in their seats.

"Now, there is going to be an essay contest taking place in all of the school's in the country. What the essay is to be about, we don't know yet, but whatever it is, I'm sure you're going to do a 'special' job." He put on a goofy smile at the class. "First prize is the winner gets to take their whole class on an all expensed paid trip to anywhere they want in the world!" The class suddenly got excited and sat up in their seats. "So you don't miss your buses, I'm not going to go over all the details, but I have them all out on this paper. If you're interested, pick one up on your way out the door. Class dismissed!" 

Everybody seemed to have grabbed a paper about the contest. 

Arnold folded up the paper and stuck it in his pocket to read when he got back to the boardinghouse. 

He got his stuff out of his locker and left the school and got in front of Helga getting onto the bus. 

Helga looked at him worriedly, still arguing with herself about returning the journal.

_"I had no clue that he'd get this upset,"_ was what she thought.

Helga sat with Phoebe as Arnold sat with Gerald. The bus left and started off down the street. Phoebe stood up in her seat.

"Um, Helga. I'll be right back. I'd just like a word with Gerald for a moment," Phoebe told her.

"Yeah, okay," Helga said, sounding as if she hadn't heard a word. Phoebe walked over to where Arnold and Gerald sat.

"Arnold, would mind if I could have a word with Gerald for a moment?" asked Phoebe. Arnold looked at her with a confused face.

"Sure." He got up and sat in an empty seat behind Brainy. Phoebe sat down beside Gerald and he noticed at once the concerned look on her face.

"What's wrong, Phoebe?" he asked her worriedly.

"Gerald, do you know what's going on with Arnold? You or him weren't at recess to day, and after that, he seemed very troubled. And all through class after lunch, he didn't pay attention at all. That's not like him, Gerald. Arnold always pays very close attention," she told him. Gerald gave her a sad look.

"He lost his dad's journal. He found it yesterday – which was the anniversary of his parents' disappearance – and brought it to school to day and lost it. We were looking for it during recess, but didn't have any luck. So he's really upset about it. I hope he finds it before he does anything…drastic…" Gerald trailed off and Phoebe noticed the look of fear as he looked back to where Arnold was sitting. 

"Oh come on, Gerald. You don't really think he'd-," Phoebe stopped herself when the bus stopped and Arnold got off. Phoebe and Gerald watched as Arnold walked off down the sidewalk towards his home. But what they didn't know was that Helga was also looking at her beloved Arnold and wondered the same thing: _how far can Arnold really go? _


	3. A Forgotten Holiday

**A/N:** I feel so loved. I'm lucky if I get this many reviews on one whole story! Thanks soooo much, guys! And just so you know, I would NEVER let Arnold kill himself. The hinting of it in the story is just to add more drama/angsty things into it. So no worries there anymore, I hope. I also wanted to let you know that I'm trying my very hardest on this fic and so if I don't finish it (I and really do hope I will) please don't be mad at me. I usually wrote my whole story out on word, section it into chapters, and THEN post it so I can post a chapter a day. But on this, I'm writing chapters as I go, so…yeah. Well, I started writing this chapter in study hall and I think it's coming along great. Will most likely be my best yet! Well you've surely had enough of my babbling, so on with the chapter!

Chapter 3 – A Forgotten Holiday 

Arnold walked in the front door of his house with his head hanging low. He paid no mind to his grandma, who was hunting down a fly in the hallway, and walked up the stairs to his room. It had started to rain lightly on his skylight as he entered his dimly lit room. 

_"Everything's so gloomy. Especially me,"_ he said in his head.

The first he noticed when he took the first step into his room was the empty space next to his parents' photograph where he had the journal placed the night before.

He put his book bag in the corner by his computer desk and went back out of his room. 

In a few seconds, Arnold was under the little door that lead to the attic. He pulled the string and the ladder came down far enough for him to climb up. When he reached the platform, he pulled an old chair out of a dark corner and in front of a bookshelf. Arnold stood up on the chair and took hold of a small box and carried it down off of the chair.

Back in his room, Arnold sat on his bed with the box now open and in front of him. All of the familiar papers, photos, and brochures looked up at him with bright colors. Most had large letterings that read sayings along the lines of, "Welcome to San Lorenzo!" or "Plan the perfect vacation to beautiful San Lorenzo." 

But right on top of all that was Arnold's favorite toy: the remote control airplane. Arnold took his hat off and observed it carefully, as if it were to shatter or drop from his hands at any given moment. He smiled with a mixture of sadness and happiness in his eyes and he placed it back on his head. Like his hat, the toy airplane was given to him by his parents on his first birthday. 

He took out all of the ads and papers out of the box and started reading and looking through all of them. Even though he had looked at them when they had been given to him or when he found them, he felt like reading them again. It seemed to him that every time he looked through them, something that he didn't notice before he would find.

Three hours passed while Arnold looked through everything in the box when he finally looked up and saw that the rain had stopped. He decided to fly the plane for a little bit and then put all of the stuff from the box back onto the bulletin board. So he grabbed the plane and control, and then climbed the little stairs up to the roof. 

Once outside, he felt the cool, fall breeze whip across his face and play with his hair. The sky was still a bit dark from the passing rain and he looked down at the far away ground from the rooftop. The whole setting seemed familiar to him, yet he could not figure out why. But just then in his mind, he heard a very faint voice yell, "_What are you deaf?!"_

He shook his head and claimed it was just his imagination. Arnold sat down on the rim of the roof and sat the airplane down in front of him. With a little trigger of the joystick, the plane took off into the air above him. He watched it soar above the boardinghouse and then pushed it to the right. Then he pushed it down and saw it dive close to the street. He let it hover for a few minutes and brought it back up and let it fly just an inch above his head. As it zoomed past his head, he felt the wind from it come over him. 

Arnold flew the airplane in loops and turns for ten more minutes before landing it perfectly in front of him. 

_"Even after five years," _he thought, _"this thing still flies like brand new."_

Arnold remembered how when he was four, he and his grandfather had tweaked it and made it flyable. He picked it up and climbed back into his room through the glass window. 

He laid the plane along with its controller on his bed by the box. He picked up the box and was about to start pinning the papers up again when there was a knock on his door.

Arnold looked up in surprise. "Uh, come in," he said to the unknown person behind the door.

His grandpa peeked in and saw Arnold carrying the box that was once in the attic a day ago. He smiled and came fully into the room and closed the door behind him. 

"I see you're putting all of your parents' stuff back up again," he said in an almost excited tone. Arnold had put the box on the desk and sat down on his bed. 

"Yeah. I figured that trying to forget about them wouldn't work anyway. I mean, they _are _my parents. No one can forget about their parents," he replied as his grandpa brought a chair over to the bed side and sat backwards on it.

"That's good. Well anyway, the reason I came up here was to ask if you gave out the invites to you party tomorrow."

Arnold looked at him with a puzzled look. "Huh? What party, Grandpa?" he asked his shocked grandfather.  
"Arnold! How can you possibly forget your own birthday?! Remember? You're turning ten tomorrow!" he practically yelled at Arnold.

Arnold's eyes bulged at the realization. He had forgotten his birthday over all that had been going on! "Whoa! Grandpa, I totally forgot! I can't believe I forgot! I guess with all that's happened, I guess I got caught up in all of it. Wow, I'm glad you reminded me!" Arnold exclaimed, still mentally slapping himself for forgetting such a thing.

He ran over to his backpack in the corner and opened the smallest pocket and pulled a pile of envelopes tied in red string out of it. He looked at them.

"There's no use passing them out tomorrow, since it's gonna be tomorrow. I'm surprised Gerald didn't ask me about it. I'll just have to call everyone tonight." And with that Arnold dashed over to his phone and started going through his list of phone numbers and began making calls.

Phil sat on the chair and watched his grandson without saying anything. He slowly walked out the room without Arnold noticing. 

Arnold looked at the first number on the list: Gerald's. Then Phoebe, Helga, Sid, etc. He hastily began punching in numbers and looked up his to see that his Grandpa had left. Arnold looked back at the list and heard Gerald's 'hello' come over the phone.

"Hey, Gerald…"

A few blocks away, Helga sat in her room and laying on her stomach on her pink  bed. She kicked her feet back and forth in the air without moving her head. In front of her, lay an old, brown book opened to the first page. On the page held a paragraph of neat handwriting and at the top was a beautiful drawing of an ancient temple surrounded by mountains and trees. 

**A/N:** So what did ya think? Please tell me by reviewing. Flame if you want. And great big hugs to anyone who reviews at all! Just kidding…J


	4. Arnold's Birthday

**A/N:** Let's all rejoice!! I finally finished chapter 4!! Woo! Thanks for the patience, people. I really do appreciate it. School's been up my butt all month with homework, projects, and all that other crap, so that's one reason this took so long. The other reason is my last fanfic (and by the way, thanks a lot for the reviews!). Plus I got grounded off the computer for a week. Well anyway, here's chappie #4!!

Chapter 4 – Arnold's Birthday 

**__**

**__**

Helga woke with a groan the next morning with the sunlight beaming through her window. 

It was Saturday. Just an ordinary Saturday where nothing abnormal would happen. She looked over at her digital clock: 10:00 am. With a tired yawn, she stretched out her arms and sat up. She looked down to see Arnold's journal lying on her lap as it had the night before, opened to the last page.

_Must've fallen asleep reading it," _she concluded. 

Picking it up, she flipped through what she had read. The wedding, making the medicine, Arnold's birth, (which Helga enjoyed so much that she had read it three times) moving to Hillwood, and Arnold's first birthday. 

Back to the last page, she decided to take a few extra minutes and read the last of it. 

A few minutes later, Helga was on the last paragraph. 

For a second Helga almost thought that a tear had escaped her eye, but when she checked, her skin was dry. But nonetheless, it was sill very sad. He had made it sound as if he knew for sure that they were coming back. He never even thought that they wouldn't come back. 

She closed the book and snapped the latch back into place. Now all she had to do was think of a way to give it back to Arnold without actually giving it back in person.

She looked over on her bedside table and saw that the red light was blinking on her phone, telling her she had a message on it. She pushed the button under the light and heard Arnold's voice come over the speaker.

"Hey, Helga. I guess you're not there. Listen, my birthday's tomorrow and this is your invite to the party. I've been caught up in a lot things lately, so that's why I didn't tell you at school. Anyway, the party's at 3:00, so I hope I'll see ya there. Bye." 

There was a little beep and Helga smiled to herself.

"Oh, how could _I _have forgotten such an important day as this one? My beloved Arnold turns ten!" she exclaimed. Then suddenly, she froze. 

"And this is the perfect way to give Arnold back this journal," she said. She got up off her bed and ran over to her closet. She dug around until she found what she was looking for. 

When she came back out of the closet, she carried a small brown shoebox. Helga placed the journal in the box and put the lid back on it. From under her bed, she pulled out a roll of shiny wrapping paper that she used for presents. 

She wrapped up the shoebox and placed a blue ribbon on top of it. And on a stick-on label, she wrote who it was from by putting three question marks. 

Then, she brushed out her hair, which was a mess from sleeping on it all night, and put her usual big pink bow in. 

Looking at her clock again, she saw it was 11:00. Still having plenty of time, she walked outside with the gift under her arm and down the street.

"How much are you willing to pay?"

"Look. All I have is ten-fifty. Is that enough?"

Helga looked at the short boy in exasperation. He scratched his chin and smiled.

"Yeah. So where do you want it delivered again?" he asked

Helga let out an annoyed sigh. "I told you five times already, Mickey. That red boardinghouse on Vine Street."

"Fine. And when?"

"At 3:50 today." She told him in a serious voice. He nodded and walked away with the shiny parcel in his hands.

Helga turned and walked in the opposite direction. She wasn't sure if hiring Mickey was the best way to get the journal back to Arnold, but it was the only way she could think of. She wanted to be at the party, but how could she be at the party and be at the door to give it him at the same time. It would be too risky. 

Helga was soon back at her house at 12:00. 

Arnold stood on a stool hanging streamers for the party. Phil was behind him, on the floor, helping him.

"A little more to the right…no your other right. Okay, now a little lower and…perfect!" he exclaimed, making Arnold jump and almost fall off of the stool.

He climbed down and looked around at the room, which he had been setting up since 9:30 that morning. There were balloons floating around the ceiling and brightly colored streamers also hung everywhere (that had taken the most time since his grandpa was so critical about them being straight). 

The stream of balloons and streamers flowed out into the hallway too. 

The dining room table and been folded in half so it wasn't as big, and for snacks and party favors to lie on. Arnold had brought down his CD player and hooked it into the speakers so there would be music.

Arnold suddenly jumped when he heard a loud 'bang' from inside the kitchen. Ernie, Oskar, and Mr. Hyunh came running into the hallway from the card game they were playing in the kitchen. Soon, smoke filled most of the hallway and he saw his grandmother's head poke out from the behind the kitchen door.

"Oops. Sorry! That was Arnold's cake. Guess I added just a bit too much baking soda!" she said to everyone who was staring at her. Even Suzie had come down to see what had happened. 

Phil walked into the kitchen, coughing and Arnold heard him say, "Geese, Pookie! No wonder it blew up! You put my pants in there!"

Arnold rolled his eyes and went into the kitchen to help clean up the mess. 

At 3:30 that afternoon, people started arriving at the boardinghouse. Helga and Phoebe came together and were the last to show up. Helga checked her watch once they were inside and saw that it she still had another ten minutes before Arnold's present would get there. 

Helga looked around and noticed that people had already gotten cake and were standing around with plates eating it. 

_"Arnold always does his presents after he serves the cake. He always has. I just hope he gets done with the in time. I want him to open mine last," _she thought.

Arnold looked over at Helga still standing in the hallway while Phoebe stood talking with Gerald. 

"Uh, Helga? You know there's cake on the table. You don't have to stand here," he told her.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, football-head. I'm goin. I can't stand here for a little while?" she answered and walked into where the party was. 

Helga checked here watch. Eight minutes. 

She looked up when she saw Arnold's grandpa walk into the room, pushing the other half of the dining room table, holding at least fifteen gifts. He pushed the table (which was pushed on wheels for obvious reasons) into the center of the room and stepped away from it.

Helga envied the decorated papers and shiny bows atop of the table. She was lucky if she got five presents for her birthday, and that was including Phoebe and Arnold, who were the only ones from school who got her gifts. 

Everyone crowded around the table and Arnold stood right front and center. With an almost anxious look that Helga could tell he was trying to hide. She smiled at this. 

After only six minutes, (Helga constantly checked her watch) Arnold had opened all of his presents and there was a garbage bag bulging with wrapping paper and ribbons and bows leaning against the wall. 

_"Two minutes. And Mickey's known for his accuracy so, there isn't going to be any extra time," _she thought.

Arnold had gotten a new football from Stinky, a romance novel from Lila, (Arnold hadn't looked too enthusiastic when he had opened that one) a gift certificate to Mr. Chicken's house of Halibut and pancakes form Sid, "Vampire Hunter" video game from Gerald, a new CD walkman from his grandma and grandpa, a watch from Phoebe, and everyone else just gave him cards and/or money. 

Helga looked at her watch again and saw that Mickey should be there any second. And as if almost on cue, Arnold's doorbell rang. Helga looked up so fast that she thought she could've gotten whiplash. 

Arnold looked behind him at the hallway, a look of surprise on his face. 

_"Who could that be?"_ he thought _"Everyone's already here."_

He walked out of the room and opened to door and there, the fifth grader, Mickey, greeted him. 

"Mickey? What are you doing here?" he asked.

"I'm here on a business run. I was hired to deliver this to you," he told him, handing Arnold the package. 

Arnold took it uncertainly. "Uh…thanks, I guess." He said and watched him leave. 

Arnold walked back into the room with the shining box and Helga felt her stomach give out. She felt nervous and almost thought her sweating would give her away as the mystery sender. 

She had no clue why she had gotten so uneasy all of a sudden, but she watched as everyone turned to look at Arnold with the parcel in his hands. They followed him back over to the present table and put it down. 

"Who's it from, Arnold?" Gerald asked form beside him. 

Arnold shook his head. "Dunno yet. That fifth grader, Mickey, just delivered it saying he was hired to give it to me," he told Gerald, though everyone heard him. 

Helga stood in front of the side of the table and watched tensely as Arnold picked up a little card that he hadn't noticed before. 

It read,

To: Arnold Vedro

From: ???

He looked around and saw everyone staring at him and the box, telling him to open it.

Arnold started to rip at the paper and soon it was just the shoebox again. Helga stiffened as she watched him lift the lid off the top and star, wide-eyed at what was inside.

Arnold couldn't believe it when he saw his father's old journal lying in the box. He wasn't sure how long he sat there just staring at it, overwhelmed with happiness that he had gotten it back. It was all he had not to jump for joy and dance around (**A/N:** You know, now that I'm writing that, that seems as if it would be pretty funny. Lol :]). 

Everyone except for Gerald and Helga were all asking Arnold what it was and why he looked so shocked at it. 

Arnold didn't answer them, of course, but he just let them all go by saying that he hadn't expected it and a very special and personal thank you to whoever sent it. 

"I'd also would really like to know who _did _send this to me. It really does mean a lot to me, as you probably already know, and I'd rather say thank you to you, instead of saying it like this," he said solemnly. 

And that was the end of the matter.

Arnold put the lid back on and placed it with the rest of the presents on the table and everyone returned to the party as if nothing happened.

Helga let out a sigh of relief from the tension and too, went back to the party.

**A/N:** sooooooo? What do you think?!? I must know!! And what about Arnold's last name? Do you think it was stupid? I think it sounds a bit Latin to me, but I didn't want to come up with something common like Smith, or Williams, or Richardson, or something like. But it also wasn't long or hard to pronounce. And if anyone DID pronounce wrong, it pronounced Vee-jrow. Ok? So please review telling me how I did on this one. And again, sorry it took so long to finally get this up.


	5. Author's Note

This is just my last note on this story. I'm very sorry to say that I've made the decision not to continue this story. It's not that I don't have time; it's really just that I've lost interest in it. I know I only got up to chapter four, but I really don't want to keep writing it. You guys who reviewed really helped me along with it, and it's very much appreciated. I'm really glad that I had some people who actually liked what I was writing and wanted more. Writing chapter four was mainly for you people who wanted to read it. So in other words, you were the ones who kept me going. If I hadn't anyone who liked the story, I probably would have stopped at chapter three, so thanks a lot. I know that I took up a big responsibility, writing this. With having to not rush it, (which was one thing I always seemed to do in my fics) posting chapters frequently, and dedication to it. And I feel really bad that I couldn't finish it. I was really looking forward to posting up the last chapter and being able to say that I actually wrote a really good story for once, but I guess that couldn't happen. And again, I feel really bad about it. And letting all who wanted to see an ending from me down. And one last thing. If anyone wants to write the rest of this themselves, you're free to. Just please e-mail me about first, telling me you want to, ok? I'd rather know about it first. My e-mail is jimmiko@stargate.net . If - and I doubt there will be - there is more than one person e-mail me about wanting to write the rest of this story, than I'll pick which ever one I think would do the best job. If anyone wants this job, please don't hesitate to ask.I really don't want to let this story go without an ending. I know that most of that is my fault, but if anyone wants to finish it, please tell me. And so I don't miss anyone who wants to, please e-mail me before April 20th. After that, I won't take anymore people. And again, I feel really bad about all this. 


End file.
